Digital Product Passport: Enabling Sustainable Supply Chain Management for Electric Vehicle Batteries.
Claus Mersch, Felix Strohmeier, Maria Dos Santos (2024): Digital Product Passport: Enabling Sustainable Supply Chain Management for Electric Vehicle Batteries. In: POSTER-Konferenzband zur 17. Recy & DepoTech-Konferenz
The circular economy is a transformative approach that aims to decouple economic growth from linear resource consumption, thereby promoting environmental sustainability and resource efficiency. Digital Product Passports (DPPs) include data on product lifecycles to increase transparency, improve resource efficiency and extend product life. The Circular Economy (CE)-Pass project aims to assess the feasibility of a DPP and associated data exchange to improve the circularity of automotive products. The present study considers specific data needs of stakeholders over the life cycle of an electric vehicle battery leading to the development of a DPP-prototype. Persona workshops with experts were conducted to identify the potential passport “users” (e.g., battery designers, recyclers, etc.) and the most relevant data attributes for a digital battery passport. This led, applying a user-centered design approach, to the development of a
holistic data model and prototype considering the stakeholder requirements. Circularity within the prototype will be supported by data transfer between stakeholders as well as relevant data attributes; e.g., product carbon footprint (Beginning of Life), dismantling instructions (End of Life), material circularity indicator, etc. The prototype shows visualizations of the data attributes and provides data relevant for stakeholders along the product’s life cycle. The study further sheds light on the existing gaps in data and the challenges associated with exchanging information among stakeholders. This is illustrated by the example of the dismantling instructions required by the legislation.
